Veteran Oconee Republican lawmakers returned to office

WALHALLA - Both of Oconee County's veteran Republican House members won reelection Tuesday by large margins.

State Rep. Bill Whitmire, R-Walhalla, won a fifth term with 10,840, or 76.26 percent, of 14,215 votes cast Tuesday, defeating Democrat John Hester, with 2,402 votes, and petition candidate John Dalen, with 963 votes.

State Rep. Bill Sandifer, R-Seneca, won a tenth term by defeating petition candidate Ed Rumsey with 10,487, or 73.26 percent, of 14,314 votes cast to Rumsey's 3,776 votes.

Both Dalen and Rumsey had initially run as Republicans in the June primary but were removed from the ballot due to a filing deadline technicality.

Sandifer and Whitmire both ran on records of fully supporting for small business and to records of fiscal conservatism in state budgeting. Both favor full support for measures to lure new industries to the state and to uncompromising support of local issues in Columbia.

Rumsey and Dalen both said they opposed state incentives to lure industry, citing what they say is the great expense to state taxpayers.

Whitmire, a retired educator, cited his involvement with education issues in Columbia and said that he would not support any state measure that cut state funds to the local schools.

Both Whitmire and Sandifer, said they support plans by Gov. Nikki Haley to reject an expansion of the state Medicaid system, saying it will be financially untenable in outlying years as federal funding lessens.

Rumsey and Dalen run on similar platforms that charge their opponents with being proponents of big government, while they advocate less government together with lower taxes and less regulation and an emphasis on free market solutions to issues.

Hester ran on a platform that included support for a universal health care system, more spending on programs for the poor and a progressive tax system.

State Sen. Thomas Alexander, R-Walhalla, won reelection to his District 1 Senate seat unopposed, with 25,909 votes, or 99.32 percent, of 26,087 votes cast.